Drake's 1500 Pale Ale | Drake's Brewing Co.

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Notes / Commercial Description:
As we approached our 1500th batch in San Leandro, the brewers decided to attempt something different. They set out to make a pale ale with a clean, stripped down malt bill and plenty of late addition hops that would give the beer huge flavors and aromas of bright citrusy American hops without overwhelming the balance with bitterness. The resulting beer packed the aromatic and flavorful hop punch of a West Coast-style IPA at a very easy drinking 5.5% ABV. The brewer and the people loved it. Now 1500 is a Drake’s flagship beer.

Reviews by GuinnessAtRogerWilco:

12oz bottle given to me by one of my best beer customers that he picked up when out in CA. Poured into a Stella tulip glass.

AP: Nice looking amber-orange colour with a 3/4" foamy white head that dwindles down to 1/8", moderate lacing on the side of the glass.
AR: Very impressive aroma on this one. Good bready malts with some caramel and a hint of spicy rye in the background. Hops aromas are a combo of tropical and floral with orange, tangerine, pineapple, guava and honeysuckle, jasmine and lavender. Very nice.
T: The malts are bigger in the flavour than the aroma and the tropical aromas are tamer, but still very tasty. Malts are more biscuit and cereal grains and make a good foundation to carry the hops flavours. Nice soft bitter pink grapefruit finish with a hint of green needle pine. The floral aspects and the bit of spicy rye are in the flavour as well. Well done, but if the tropical aromas had carried over more in the flavour I'd have rated the taste higher.
M: Moderately carbonated, medium body, a bit of acidic crispness mid palate then an off dry finish.
OV: I really enjoy this beer. Fairly hoppy for an APA, but not in a way that makes you think IPA, almost like a Pilsner on steriods. Nice balance between the malt bill and the hops. Very good effort from Drakes.

More User Reviews:

Raul quite liked this bad boi. I mean, he didn't like it like he liked (name redacted) in high school; but Raul more so likens it to that flight attendant that he met while flying back home from Portland, Oregon. Not memorable like a first love, but freaky enough to stick with you. A bit crisp, a bit hoppy, nicely balanced... Yeah, Raul would continue to go on but he doesn't want to cry.

Pours dark gold, lots of carbonation, and a huge, rocky explosion of a white head. Thick lacing. Big helping of pine and citrus (orange peel) in the nose; wet and grassy, with some straw. Nice, crisp, clean taste. Bitter and biscuity up front, you can really taste the crystal malt. Moves slowly into an earthy, piney IPA-like flavor as it sweetens. More citrus as well. Not necessarily a dry finish, but abrupt. Light mouthfeel. One of the best APA's I've had.

A clear golden and light copper with a pillowy, moderately-sized off-white head that leaves gorgeous lined lacing down the glass. Very pretty pale ale.

A hoppy pale ale to be sure, with big amounts of grapefruit flesh and zest leading hte way in the aroma, along with some pine, and caramel sweetness.

The malt character is bigger in the flavor than I would have guessed after only smelling this beer. Sweet caramel, moderate bitterness, grapefruit flesh and zest, and a clean, mild pine and grass character. Balanced and very drinkable.

Taste, pretty light body, more of the earthy grassy hops. Malt body is light, not really getting caramel from this one, you get a little bit of sweetness from it, but nothing distracting or that does not belong.

Doesn't lean towards pine or citrus all that much, a very light grapefruit I guess if you made me choose. I appreciate this beer for its easy warm weather drinking appropriateness. $9 a 6 pack, a pretty legitimate beer to have, I just wish I knew how old this was, its so hard to definitively review a hoppy beer that you have no idea how old it is.

Overall though, still probably hoppier than most pale ales out there. Bottle date it, and I'd give it a 4 overall.